How to Send Secret iPhone Message Tricks like Pew Pew

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Tech specialist Luigi Oppido explains how to trigger cool screen effects with just a few simple phrases

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido and Devin McSween

Last Updated: January 26, 2026 Fact Checked

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• What is the “pew pew” text trick?
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• Message Effects like “Pew Pew”
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• Manually Adding Text Effects
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• More Message Tricks
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• Video
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• Tips

|Show more |Show less

Did you know that there are secret phrases that trigger fun screen effects when you send them as a text on an iPhone? Sending “pew pew” is one of the most popular tricks, but there’s a lot more where that comes from! In this article, we’re going over all of the fun screen effects you can trigger with a single text message, with help from tech specialist Luigi Oppido. Plus, we’ll let you know how to manually add screen effects and text bubble effects to your messages, as well as other fun texting tricks you can do with an iPhone. Keep reading to learn more!

What words trigger screen effects on an iPhone?

Tech specialist Luigi Oppido says phrases that trigger screen effects on an iPhone include “pew pew” (triggers a laser show), “congratulations” (triggers confetti), and “happy birthday” (triggers balloons). You can also manually add effects to any text by long-pressing the send button and swiping through the effects.

Steps

Section 1 of 4:

What is the “pew pew” text trick?

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1. 
   Sending “pew pew” in a text message sends a laser show effect. Apple has lots of fun text message tricks when you send a specific phrase in a message. Oppido says when you send a text that says “pew pew,” multicolored lasers shoot across the screen. He says it only works if you type in “pew pew” and nothing else (so avoid adding quotation marks, emojis, punctuation, etc.)

   • The effect only lasts a few seconds, but simply tap “Replay” to turn the lasers on again, if you’d like!
   • Don’t worry—we’ll tell you about the other texts you can send to create fun message effects on your iPhone!

   Meet the wikiHow Expert

   Luigi Oppido is a tech specialist and owner of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. He has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades.
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Section 2 of 4:

Text Message Effects Like “Pew Pew”

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   “Congratulations” or “best wishes” Oppido says when you text someone “congratulations,” colorful confetti rains down from the top of the screen. The same effect happens if you write “congrats,” “congratulation,” or “best wishes.”

   • The “congratulations” effect (and all the other effects mentioned below) works if your text is in all lowercase, all caps, or a mix of lowercase and capital letters. In other words, you don’t have to use proper capitalization for the effect to work!
   • Unlike the “pew pew” effect, these screen effects work if you add punctuation marks or emojis to your text. However, the effect won’t be triggered if you add other letters or words.
   • Note: This effect (and all the ones mentioned below) works when the text is written in a different language. For instance, if you text “felicitations” (French for “congratulations”) or “herzlichen glückwunsch” (German for “congratulations”), you’ll get the same confetti effect!
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   “Happy birthday” Oppido says if you text someone “happy birthday,” colorful balloons float from the bottom of the screen to the top. This effect only works out if you type out “happy birthday,” though—abbreviations like “hbd” or “happy bday” won’t work.
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   “Happy New Year” According to Oppido, when you text someone “Happy New Year” on January 1st, fireworks explode in colorful flashes across the middle of the screen. This is definitely a fun, celebratory text to receive on New Year’s Day!
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   “Happy Lunar New Year” or “Happy Chinese New Year” If you wish someone “Happy Lunar New Year” or “Happy Chinese New Year,” gold sparkles fall from the top of the screen and your text bubble turns red. (And just as a reminder, the Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year falls sometime around the end of January to the end of February!)
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   “Eid Mubarak” Oppido says when you wish someone “Eid mubarak” on Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha, a shooting star flashes across the screen. This effect also works if you text “happy Eid.”
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   “Happy Holi” Texting someone “happy Holi” causes the same colorful confetti to rain down as the “congrats” screen effect. Sending this text is a beautiful way to celebrate Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors.
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   “Happy Diwali” Sending someone a text that says “happy Diwali” causes fireworks to dance across the screen (which is the same effect as the “Happy New Year” text). This effect also works if you text “happy Deepavali” and “happy Deepawali”—all 3 versions celebrate Diwali, or the Festival of Lights.
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Section 3 of 4:

How to Manually Add Text Message Effects

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   Type a message and long-press the send button to pull up screen effects. To send a message with a screen effect, type your text message. Then, press and hold the send button to pull up the effect screen. Simply tap “Screen” and swipe left to see all the effects you can send. Once you’ve chosen your effect, press the send button to send your text.

   • The different screen effects are:
     • Echo: Dozens of message bubbles with your text inside swirl across the screen.
     • Spotlight: A spotlight hovers over your text message.
     • Balloons: Colorful balloons float from the bottom of the screen.
     • Confetti: Colorful confetti falls down from the top of the screen.
     • Love: A red heart inflates from your text and floats to the top of the screen.
     • Lasers: Multicolored lasers shine from your text.
     • Fireworks: Multicolored fireworks explode across the screen.
     • Celebration: Gold sparks fall from the top of the screen.
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   Or, press and hold the send button to add a bubble effect. There are also different effects that you can add to your message bubble. These effects aren’t as dramatic and dazzling as the screen effects, but they’re still a fun way to make your text stand out. Just type your message, long-press the send button, tap “Bubble,” and swipe through the different bubble effects.

   • The different bubble effects are:
     • Slam: Your message jumps up and slams back down on the screen.
     • Loud: Your message grows bigger and shakes a bit.
     • Gentle: The message bubble grows a little bigger and the text appears a little smaller.
     • Invisible ink: The text is blurred by little dots. To read it, your recipient has to swipe over the text bubble.
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Section 4 of 4:

More iPhone Message Tricks

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1. 
   Want to add a bit more pizazz to your text messages? Apple has a lot of different ways to add unique effects to your messages. Check out some more unique tricks below!

   • Text effects: Type your text message. Then, tap the message box to pull up the menu. Scroll to the left until you see “Text Effects.” Select the text you want to add the effect to, then choose an effect: make the text big, small, shake, nod, explode, ripple, bloom, or jitter.
   • Font effects: Type your text, tap the message box to open up the menu, and select “Text Effects.” Then, select the text you want to either bold, italicize, underline, or strike through.
   • Stickers: Tap the “+” button next to the text box. Then, tap “Stickers.” Select the sticker icon to make stickers out of your own photos, or swipe to the left to add a sticker as an emoji or Memoji. Or, download sticker packs from the app store. Choose the sticker you want and then send the message.
   • Tapback: Tap and hold any message, photo, or GIF to add a reaction, like a heart, thumbs-up, or “haha.” Or, add any emoji or a custom sticker as a reaction.
   • Handwritten message: Turn your phone on its side so it’s in landscape mode. Then, open the keyboard and tap the key in the bottom right corner with a loop icon. This opens a screen where you can handwrite a message, or choose a pre-written message.
   • GIFs: Tap the “+” button next to the text box. Then, scroll and find “#images.” Tap it to open up the GIF selector. Use the search bar at the top to find a specific GIF or search for GIFs with a specific keyword.
   • Reply: Tap and hold any message, photo, or GIF. Then, select “Reply” from the pop-up menu.

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Tips

• If you want to stop message effects from auto-playing, go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion and toggle the “Auto-Play Message Effects” to the off position.
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